From the bride Meike...I met Ric 11 years ago during a basketball game in my hometown. At first I wasn't so interested as I was too occupied with the sport. My brothers always joked that my date to prom would be Mr. Spalding. Somehow Ric made me curious because he was such a cool guy but at the same time so interested in others and open to the world as he was planning to travel to India for 6 months. I was intrigued. We had a great summer together before he went to India and we didn't know what will happen after he got back from India. After dropping him off at the airport I immediately felt I liked him more than I thought. During that time we wrote tons of letters and emails, telling each other what kept us busy and how we felt. All with India in the backdrop. The same situation happened 5 years later when I moved to New York for a couple of months. Somehow these letters and emails deepened our relationship and connected us emotionally and mentally in a very special way. Sometimes I still like to read those letters again.

We always like to throw parties because we like to celebrate and bringing people together. Reaching our tenth anniversary in 2016 we wanted to throw a big party at my parents house and invited all our loved ones months ahead. Little did everyone know it was going to be an engagement party instead ,including myself. Three weeks before the party we were looking at some new houses. After visiting the last house Ric mentioned he planned a weekend away and that he picked some outfits and packed my bag. I had to open the glovebox for a hint and found a box of macarons and our passports, Paris it was. It was the first city we ever visited together back in 2006 and we keep on visiting it quite regularly. I couldn't wait to be back again and admire the city of lights.

Ric had booked an incredible room with views on the Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower and arranged dinner at my favorite restaurant. After dinner we went to see the Eiffel Tower by night (one of the cliche things I always like to do when I'm in Paris). And there (after having the ring 'burn' in his pocket all day) he went on one knee under the sparkling tower with another sparkler in his hand. I don't remember much of what he was saying because of excitement, but of course I said yes! Of course it crossed my mind, but still at the same time you're never sure and I thought it was a gift to celebrate our tenth anniversary. We kept it a secret until the party and surprised everyone with a movie trailer inviting them to the wedding in 2017. It were the most fun three weeks.

We wanted our wedding to be an intimate affair with all our family and friends and with a bit of international allure. Ric having Italian heritage also made us think about a wedding in Italy, but it would be much more difficult for everyone to be able to come, So we looked closer to home. I stumbled upon Chateau de la Hulpe on the internet and loved the purity and serenity of the estate, inside and out. Ric and I both wanted a personal ceremony, with anecdotes and personal vows and music that resembles us. Our love for traveling and favorite places was reflected in the choice of foods. Macarons for Paris, our dinner including a Mille Foglie wedding cake for Italy and the Haute Dogs for New York as a late night snack. Opening our new lives as husband and wife and hinting towards our honeymoon to India we danced to Panjabi MC and JayZ. It was the most funny surprise and immediately started the party that ultimately ended with fireworks, gifted to us by our best men. I truly never expected to sense so much love and kind words in one day. The wedding definitely was the cherry on the cake of our ten years together and I can't wait for the next ten or fifty.